This Hotel Will Be Named After a Suffragist and Women's Rights Activist

Ask most Oregonians about Abigail Scott Duniway, and they’ll tell you the story of the 19th century journalist who founded a women’s rights newspaper in 1871, beginning a fight for suffrage that didn’t end until 1912.

When Oregon became the seventh state to give voting rights to women, then-governor Oswald West invited Duniway to join him in signing the equal rights proclamation.

“We wanted a name that would represent Portland. Abigail Duniway was one of Portland’s most important pioneers,” hotel general manager Eric Walters told Travel + Leisure. “Her fearlessness and inspiration to women made her a change agent and she represents a disruptive character.”

The re-naming “is a testament to our city’s rich history, our hero Abigail Duniway’s trail-blazing and disruptive fortitude and the explorative state of mind for which Portland is best known,” said hotel manager Marc Adrar.

A rendering of the lobby of The Duniway Hotel.

Courtesy of Hilton Hotels

All guestrooms at the new Duniway are being re-designed by DesignAgency with an inspiration from nature and the city's industrial past and will also feature a selection of books curated by local bookstore Powell Books. The hotel lobby will also feature Jackrabbit, a new restaurant from chef Chris Cosentino, scheduled to open in March 2017.

The Duniway joins another Hilton-operated property that honors a heroine, San Antonio’sEmily Morgan Hotel, named after the woman who was the inspiration for the song “The Yellow Rose of Texas.”